The Boneyard

The Boneyard is a dinosaur playground for preschoolers and grade school-age kids in the DinoLand U.S.A. area in Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. At The Boneyard would-be paleontologists can play amid a world of dinosaur discoveries. Kids can wander through a maze, slide down covered slides, climb among the rocks and explore to their heart's content. The soft cushiony floor makes for a safe area where kids can have fun and run free.

Just past the Oldengate Bridge on the left, kids of all ages will enjoy exploring the Boneyard. This educational playground is a replica of a dig site with rope ladders, tunnels and slides, on varying levels for you to explore to your heart's content.The soft cushiony floor makes for a safe play area. There are a number of interactive displays here as well. Don't be afraid to open doors and lids to crates, or step on dinosaur footprints because you never know what you'll encounter.

There are dig site notes and facts posted around the walls of the enclosed area and the fossils here are archaeologically correct. Nearby the sandbox area is not filled with real sand, but rather a no-stick variety known as "Texas grit". Here children can play archaeologist and dig for the faux remains of a 10,000-year old woolly mammoth. Throughout the day, the sandbox is periodically closed so that these precious bones can be reburied for the next group of budding archaeologists to discover!

Touring Tips

• It is located on your left as cross under the 50-foot-tall brachiosaurus and enter DinoLand U.S.A.
• The Boneyard is for children 4 years and older. Smaller adults may be able to move around in the tunnels and slides, but the areas really are scaled for children. There are lots of things for children to climb on, over, around, and through.
• As the kids enter, kind of off to the right behind the jeep, is a set of fossilized bones set into the (wall) side of the hill. Knock on the rib bones to play a note. This is called the xylobone.
• It can get very hot in The Boneyard area when temps are high, so be sure and bring water in for you and your children!
• If you have younger children, head over to the Boneyard in DinoLand. Once inside the play area, go to the upper level and cross over the Dinosaur bridge, which goes across the entrance to DinoLand. On the far side is a wonderful shaded "archeological dig" complete with large fans and fun music. The parents can relax on the rocks while the kids dig up bones in the large dig site. This area is filled with granular pebbles that are very smooth, cool to the touch, and best of all, fall off easily when one stands up.

Facts

• It was a premier attraction when DinoLand U.S.A., opened in 1998.
• Casts were taken from real dinosaur bones found in places like Utah's Dinosaur National Park, then reproduced in a plastic-cement which looks and feels real.
• The Boneyard sign is a replica of a Stegosaurus's shoulder blade.

Hidden Mickey

• Look in the playground in soft ground covering under the ground-level drinking fountain.